Hired To Love

Chapter Six

Henley

For the first half of the car ride, things went smoothly. The music stayed loud and Bennett kept his mouth shut. Then around the hour mark, he turned the volume down.

"I'll be parking my car right outside of the city and a driver will be picking us up to chauffeur us the rest of the way," he told me.

"Why don't we just stop at a station and ride in?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Why would I ride in on dirty public transport when I have a driver who gets paid to drive these streets?"

While I wasn't the biggest fan of public transport either, I wouldn't have gone that far. The subways and trains were very useful in the crowded city. We'd probably be sitting in traffic longer than it would take to ride into the city. I didn't argue though. I figured my words would fall upon deaf ears. Bennett seemed the type to do whatever he wanted no matter what anyone else said.

And I was getting paid to do this, so I didn't have much say anyway.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking down at my beaten up sneakers. Hopefully wherever we were eating didn't have a dress code. I'd fail spectacularly.

"It's a surprise," he responded.

"So I'm going to guess that what I'm wearing isn't going to cut it."

"Did you think it would?"

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying not to feel insulted. "I couldn't find any of the dresses I own. Sorry."

"You don't have anything to apologize for," he said offhandedly. "I most likely would have made you change anyway."

Breathe, Henley, breathe. "Do you have to sound so condescending when you talk to me?" I asked, turning in my seat to give him a dirty look.

He seemed surprised. "Am I being condescending?"

He didn't even realize it? Oh man, I was dealing with a special kind of arrogance. Just what kind of mindset did this guy have? If I had to deal with this all night, I doubted I'd survive.

As promised, Bennett parked his car in a parking garage and had us picked up by a man in a suit driving a more modest looking BMW. Both of us climbed into the back seat and when we were buckled in, the driver took off. The buildings around us got taller and the streets got narrower and I knew we were getting close to the heart of the city. Predictably, we hit traffic. I expected Bennett to complain, but he kept his mouth shut, just staring out the window. I turned my attention out my own window, watching the crowds of people on the sidewalks coming in and out of businesses and apartments. Crowds usually bothered me, but they rather suited the city. In an aesthetically pleasing kind of way.

"Pull over here," Bennett suddenly ordered, startling me. "Henley, we're getting out."

The driver did as instructed and I immediately opened the door, wanting some fresh air. I looked around, not recognizing where we were. All I knew was that it wasn't Times Square. The older I got, the less I went into the city. The air felt stuffy and the temperature was at least ten degrees higher than it'd been in Poughkeepsie.

"This way," Bennett said and took my hand in his.

I stared at our hands, wondering if I should pull mine away. He'd mentioned handholding would be part of the contract, though, so I decided not to.

We walked down the street a little bit and I followed a few steps behind Bennett so we wouldn't crowd the sidewalk. He was pretty intent on not letting go of my hand. Eventually we came to a store on the corner of Grand Street with wide windows and the lettering Alexander Wang under them.